What has been unexpected about doing an internship overseas is the intensity with which things happen. While normal accordances like moving to new cities (with the challenges that that brings up), starting new job and having accommodation issues might happen over a space of 9 or 12 months, all these things seemed to have been squeezed into the last 2 months. The minute that one thing seems get sorted another problem comes up.
After settling in to life in KL and my new placement, accommodation suddenly became an issue and I had to find something fast. With some networking, research and giving the card a little workout, I went from condo living to expat living on Embassy row.
Living in downtown KL means that I can walk to work (past all these embassies that look more like nuclear bunkers) and work off the rich Malaysian food.
Work has been great, I have been doing a bit of media monitoring where it has been interesting to see which issues turn into dramas and which fizzle up and die without a trace. This week I officially turned into a geek and have started using Access to record and manage the details of Malaysia’s Polytechnics and Community Colleges. It's a little bit of a challenge to start the database from scratch but it has been fun. Also, got to do a bunch of little things like write a media release, chair the staff meeting, write a exit survey and look up random information for people which was all good fun. I also got the pre-departure Guide for interns ready for checking and comments!!
It has also been a few weeks of farewells with a function at the High Commissioner’s House to say goodbye to the education section boss and welcome the new one. It was great to meet the many people that AEI-Malaysia has contact with as well as others who work at the High Commission and as is tradition in Malaysia my pockets soon filled with business cards. The other goodbyes were to Sarah, a fellow intern and to other collages in the AEI office but that’s life at the High Commission where its community is transitory.
Last weekend I managed to go to Batu Caves and thankfully the rain stopped the minute I got off the bus and started again as I got back on. It was great exercise walking up all those steps and the view from the top made it all worth it. The monkeys were also very entertaining.
Hello Gabrielle, we read your news (Sigrid and Christine Hemes)with great pleasure. How interesting your life is presently! Thank you for making us participate. It's cool!We wish you further success in your activities. Sigrid thanks you for your post-card which she was very pleasesd to receive yesterday.Love and a big hug from both of us.
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